Russian, Indian foreign ministers discuss high-level contacts, Middle East situation

MOSCOW, May 14. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar discussed high-level contacts and the future of the specially privileged Moscow-New Delhi partnership in key industries, also touching on the situation in the Middle East. "The foreign ministers discussed key bilateral topics and the schedule of upcoming contacts, including at the highest level," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement after the foreign ministers' talks during Lavrov's working visit to India. "Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to advancing the specially privileged strategic partnership, expanding trade and economic ties, and building sustainable financial, monetary, and transport-logistics mechanisms," the statement reads. "The foreign ministers paid special attention to the situation in the Middle East," the Russian Foreign Ministry added. "The parties gave a high assessment of cooperation prospects in advanced technologies, energy, and peaceful space exploration during the negotiations," the Foreign Ministry reports. "The top diplomats recognized strengthening the multipolar architecture of interstate relations and forming a fair, equal global economic system as important," the Russian Foreign Ministry noted. The Foreign Ministry emphasized the mutual desire to continue coordinating approaches in the UN, SCO, BRICS, and G20 and added that other relevant regional and global issues were also discussed.